How old is Baku's Old City?

Baku's walled Old City, Icherisheher, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 2000). Its fortress walls date to the 12th century and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs mainly to the 15th; the Maiden Tower is its oldest monument.

Why is Azerbaijan called the Land of Fire?

Because of its natural gas fires — sites like the ever-burning hillside of Yanar Dag and the Ateshgah fire temple near Baku, tied to ancient fire worship. The country's flames run right back through its history.

What was the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic?

Proclaimed in 1918, it is officially described as the first parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world, and it gave women the vote. Its first parliament opened in December 1918 and the republic lasted until 1920; its blue-red-green tricolour is the flag Azerbaijan flies today.

History · Azerbaijan

History of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's history stretches from the Gobustan petroglyphs and Caucasian Albania through the medieval Shirvanshahs and the poet Nizami to the Baku oil boom, the first secular republic in the Muslim world, and modern Baku. Move through the eras — each ties to a place you can still visit.

prehistory – 1st c. AD

Gobustan

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The Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, about 60 km south of Baku, holds more than 6,000 rock engravings testifying to 40,000 years of rock art; UNESCO inscribed it in 2007.
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The surrounding region has around 350 of the world's mud volcanoes.

Key figures: The prehistoric carvers of Gobustan

Walk through the history

Mtskheta, Vardzia, Gelati, the Baku Old City, Sheki — we build the places behind the story into a trip that fits your dates.

See tours in Azerbaijan →

History of Azerbaijan, answered

How old is Baku's Old City?: Baku's walled Old City, Icherisheher, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 2000). Its fortress walls date to the 12th century and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs mainly to the 15th; the Maiden Tower is its oldest monument.
Why is Azerbaijan called the Land of Fire?: Because of its natural gas fires — sites like the ever-burning hillside of Yanar Dag and the Ateshgah fire temple near Baku, tied to ancient fire worship. The country's flames run right back through its history.
What was the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic?: Proclaimed in 1918, it is officially described as the first parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world, and it gave women the vote. Its first parliament opened in December 1918 and the republic lasted until 1920; its blue-red-green tricolour is the flag Azerbaijan flies today.